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7.4 Use of pretérito perfecto, pretérito indefinido and pretérito imperfecto

Actually it's quite easy to differentiate the pretérito plusquamperfecto from the other tenses, but we'll have a look at this a little later in chapter 7.6. The pretérito perfecto is again quite simple to recognise since - as you will see it is very similar to the English present perfect . For most of us it's a bit tricky to find the difference between pretérito imperfecto andpretérito indefinido. Here you will have an overview over all the three tenses:

Use of the three tenses

	pretérito perfecto = present perfect
1. 2.	The action happened in the past, nevertheless, it still has an influence on the present for the speaker. The speaker is in the same time frame / time "zone" like the action he is talking about.

Just have a look at the table to find some significant examples

pretérito imperfecto, pretérito perfecto and pretérito indefinido

Let us have a look at the implications, which the different tenses have and what kind of association they give:
	Él estuvo enfermo	El año pasado estuvo enfermo		Last year he was ill.
	Él estaba enfermo	Él estaba enfermo, cuando sus padres construían la casa		When his parents built the house, he was ill.
	Él ha estado enfermo	Al principio de este año él ha estado enfermo, pero ahora está bien		At the beginning of this year he has been ill, now he is fine again.

pretérito imperfecto and pretérito indefinido

English sentence There was a little village, but the people were happy.	Spanish correct Era un pueblo pequeño, pero la gente era feliz	explanation It's not important when the village existed and whether it is still on this planet. It just was.
	Spanish incorrect Fue un pueblo pequeño, pero la gente fue feliz

English sentence While he told me the story of his life, I was bored to death.	Spanish correct Mientras él me contaba su vida, yo me aburría a muerte	explanation The "classic" case: there are two actions at the same time.
	Spanish incorrect Mientras me contó su vida, yo me aburrí a muerte

English sentence I was walking on the street when suddenly the accident happened that changed my life.	Spanish correct Paseaba por la calle, cuando de repente ocurrió este accidente, que cambió mi vida	explanation There is the basic action - walking on the street - that is interrupted / disturbed by a second action - the accident, that changed my life.
	Spanish incorrect Pasé por la calle, cuando de repente ocurrió este accidente, que cambió mi vida

English sentence He drank his beer, paid and left.	Spanish correct Bebió su cerveza, pagó y se fue	explanation More than one action that occurs in succession.
	Spanish incorrect Bebía su cerveza, pagaba y se iba

We already had a short glance at the verbs that have a different meaning when used in imperfecto in comparison to the indefinido.

saber

saber in imperfecto = to know	saber in indefinido = get to know
Cuando la viste, sabías ya que se había muerto su marido? When you saw her, did you already know that her husband had died?	Si, lo supe el domingo, cuando María me lo dijo Yes, I heard about it on Sunday, when María told me.

conocer

conocer in imperfecto = to know	conocer in indefinido = to get to know, to meet
A María, la conocía ya cuando todavía vivía en Paris. I knew María already when living in Paris.	A María, la conocí en Paris I met María in Paris

tener

tener in imperfecto = to have, to own	tener in indefinido = to get
Tenía una casa muy linda en Berlín, pero vivía en Munich He had a very nice house in Berlin, but he lived in Munich.	Cuando tuvo la casa en Berlin, se mudó When he got a house in Berlin he moved right away.

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